Mumad, Feisal in coalition talks with ODM’s Hassan Noor following Jubilee fall-out

NAIROBI—Aggrieved Mandera candidates who “lost” the Jubilee tickets have condemned the process that saw the Uhuru-led party settle for the former Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed Jari, saying “it missed the point.”

An earlier party statement stated that Negotiated Democracy was used to reach at the controversial decision.

During a presser on Tuesday, Senator Mohamud Mohamed alias Mumad and Feisal Abdirahman Siid said Adan Jari, just like the outgoing governor Ali Roba, is from same branch of the Garre clan while they represent a different section.

“Mandera governor for the last ten years was a Tuuf and Adan Mohamed is a Tuuf. Settling for Jari cannot be termed as negotiated democracy,” Feisal noted.

“We were not given prior information. We only saw it (party nomination result) online. We are not contented with the party decision,” Mumad said during the joint press conference held in Nairobi. Both Senator Mumad and businessman Feisal Abass are from the Darawa sub-clan of Garre.

In Wajir, Nairobi South Hospital proprietor Dr Hassan Adam was nominated as Jubilee flagbearer, a decision protested by governor Mohamed Abdi who vowed to run on an independent ticket.

The aggrieved candidates who lost Jubilee party tickets are reportedly ganging up against Adan Jari ahead of the August General Elections. They plan to endorse  the former Education Chief Administrative Secretary Hassan Noor Hassan who’s vying on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

“They want to send a strong message to the (Jubilee) party that their decision to settle for Adan Jari was miscalculated,” a person close to the negotiations intimated to Kulan Post.

The trio are working on the deputy governor and senate nominee to suit the joint clan arithmetic.

Mandera county assembly speaker, Mohamed Adan Khalif.

The planned coalition of clans will breath a new lease of life into the political campaign of Hassan Noor Hassan who has been battling with an upheal task of selling his candidacy since late last year when he was trounced by Mohamed Adan Khalif, the current county assembly speaker in clan endorsement drive.

Mr Hassan, who will make his second attempt to capture the seat, accused elders of short-changing him and imposing his competitor on voters.

“I am a supporter of consensus democracy, where we agree and disagree and bring a better political direction in the county, but the process has been tampered with,” he said.

It was at an Asare sub-clan meeting, where a candidate was to be picked, that Mr Hassan fell out with the elders.

He said the use of delegates to decide the next aspirant from the community was a departure from normal practice.

“Consensus democracy has never been about delegates but about dialogue and persuasion,” he said.

Governor Ali Roba has declared interest in the senate position and has since endorsed Mohamed Adan as his preferred gubernatorial candidate.

If the coalition plan sails through, the trio will face off against United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) Mohamed Adan and United Democratic Movement’s Ali Noor Aden alias Ropisa.